Abstract

Anaemia in pregnancy affects about half of all pregnant women worldwide and constitutes an important public and reproductive health issue. Aims: this study was done mainly to compare the effectiveness of oral ferrous sulphate alone and in combination of vitamin C and folic acid in correction of anaemia among the study groups. Subjects and methods: A hospital based quasi-experimental with intention to treat trial was conducted on pregnant women diagnosed to be anemic. The studied sample sized 200 anemic pregnant women were divided into two groups. Group 1 were treated with ferrous sulphate, group 2 were treated with a combination of ferrous sulphate, folic acid and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Results: Prior to treatment all cases of both groups showed haemoglobin level of less than 9 g/dl, which is categorized as moderate anaemia. After treatment, none of treatment group1 attained normal haemoglobin level, 84% improved from moderate to mild anaemia and 16% remained with moderate anaemia. Whilst group 2 after the treatment 38% of them became with normal HB level, 61% improved to mild anaemia and only one case remained with moderate anaemia. S. ferritin was for group 1 was 13.24(±3.2) became 19.51(±13.74) with significant difference (P=0.011), for group 2 showed more significant improvement from 14.16 (±2.62) before therapy to 19.52(±2.71) after therapy (P=0.004). Conclusion: The combination of ferrous sulphate, folic acid and vitamin C produced a much better improvement in blood profile and better therapeutic response among the treated cases

Description

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